Part 6B - Installation of Subaru 2.2 Liter engine

Part 6B is a continuation of Part 6A and resumes the installation of the EJ22 into the Vanagon. In Part 6B we document how we installed the air intake, throttle, fuel, and wiring systems to complete the transformation from Vanagon into SubaruVanagon. Follow along as we examine these areas in detail.

Overview and Approximate Time Needed:

Steps

Process Description

~ Time (hours)

5

Installation of air intake assembly

4

6

Modification of throttle assembly

2

7

Install fuel lines and belt

1

8

Test and installation of wiring harness

6

* Approximate Total Time =

13

*When you factor in rest and prep time, a mechanically inclined person could finish these steps in a little over a day. For someone new to working on cars, this may take a couple of days.

Step 5: Installation of air intake assembly

In this step we will install the air intake and vacuum lines to the charcoal canister and intake manifold. There are only a few connections that need to be made so this step should go quickly once the cuts and bends are made to the intake duct and vacuum lines. Lets take a closer look!

Cut a small bend from a heavy vacuum hose for the brake booster extension to the intake manifold.

From the new barb fitting on the intake manifold we use a heavy duty vacuum hose to connect to the brake booster check valve. This will ensure we have good brakes.

The stock Subaru Legacy air filter box, mass airflow sensor, and intake ducting. Below is the KEP supplied air Intake duct. We'll combine these to make for a streamline intake for the EJ22.

I haven't found an easy way to get the Subaru air box to bolt to the Vanagon using the feet with the bolt holes. I have found that cutting them off makes fitting into the "cubby" behind the tail light much eaiser.

Rotation of the Subaru intake duct and cutting a few inches past the 90* vacuum elbow is necessary to line up with the KEP intake duct. Careful planning and cutting is needed here and its better to cut long and have to trim down than to cut it short and wish you had more material. The ducting is streamlined and the air filter box tucks nicely into the cubby behind the left tail light.

Now start connecting all of the vacuum connections on the air intake ducting to the respective places on the motor. Pictured are the connections for the Cold Idle Advance and the valve cover vent.

Cold Idle Advance connected to the air intake ducting.

On the right side valve cover we'll connect the vacuum tubing to the connection nearest the throttle body on the KEP intake duct.

Cut one large and one smaller diameter vacuum hose for connecting the crank case breather to the intake ducting.

The larger diameter tube connects from the intake manifold to the Y-fitting on the crank case breather, and the smaller diameter tube connects to the KEP intake duct.

Now that the main intake ducting is in place we can connect the accessory vacuum connections and finish off this step.

Locate the Vanagon charcoal canister. It's tucked up beside the rear right wheel. Unless you feel like you can reuse it, remove the original vacuum hose from the bottom of the canister.

Connect a piece of large diameter tubing from the bottom of the charcoal canister to the intake duct.

We used a piece of 1/2" heater hose to connect from the charcoal canister to the intake duct.

Now remove the 3/8" barb fitting from the right side of the intake manifold. If you're planning ahead, use this fitting on the left to connect to the brake booster instead of buying a new one.

Replace the 3/8" barb fitting with a 1/4" or 3/16" barb fitting for connecting small diameter vacuum tubing.

It takes some work making a 1/8" NPT thread fit into the intake manifold. Take it slow and be patient.

Connect the vacuum tube from the charcoal cannister valve at the forward right firewall.

Place a small section of fuel hose over the barb and vacuum tubing as a stress relief to the delicate rubber hose connection.

The vacuum connection we just made will connect to the charcoal canister valve on the firewall. Trace the other vacuum connection (purple vacuum tube) to the top of the intake manifold near the coil packs.

A small section of small diamter rubber vacuum tubing and tee are necessary to connect to existing vacuum tubing on top of the intake manifold.

Splice into the existing vacuum tube on the intake manifold and connect the tubing from the charcoal canister valve.

Step 6: Modification of throttle assembly

This is one of my favorite steps as it's quick and it results in a very clean arrangement of the throttle mechanism. The use of an angle grinder with a metal cut off wheel or a hacksaw is needed for this step

Remove the throttle bolt from the Waterboxer throttle body.

Disconnect the Vanagon throttle cable from the bracket on the transmission and swivel to the right. Also take a hammer and an extension, such as a block of wood or a pipe and bend the bracket backward so the angle is more perpendicular to the EJ22 throttle body.

The EJ22 throttle cable connection in stock form rotates the wrong way. We will disassemble this and make some small modifications so it rotates the correct way for the Vanagon.

Remove the outer nut and slowly disassemble and lay our all of the shims and spacers so we can reuse as much as possible to make the new throttle rotate smoothly.

The throttle assembly stripped bare.

Take some channellocks and bend the lower angled bracket parallel to the pivot shaft.

Place the throttle wheel (smaller wheel) onto the pivot shaft and mark where the angled bracket makes contact with the flat face of the throttle wheel (red line).

Take a hacksaw or angle grinder with a metal cutoff wheel and cut a notch into the throttle wheel where it was marked.

Cut off the excess off the pictured post so it won't stop the new rotation of throttle wheel.

I cut a small section of 1/2" tubing I had lying around. This is used as a spacer for the new throttle assembly.

Slide the notched throttle wheel onto the pivot shaft, install some of the original shims and spacers, and the tubing spacer. Tighten the nut so the throttle is tight but the return springs still return the throttle wheel to idle position.

Using the VW throttle body connector and a segment of the Subaru throttle cable start attaching the VW throttle cable to the rotated Subaru throttle wheel. Note - The VW throttle return spring is not used.

A small groove is cut from the VW throttle cable rod using an angle grinder. This is to make room in the throttle body connector for the subaru cable. Tighten this connection after pulling most of the slack out of the VW cable otherwise you will have to adjust again later.

The throttle wheel now rotates toward the front of the van. This solution is really easy and makes for a clean, solid, installation.

Step 7: Install fuel lines and belt

We are getting very close to starting the SubaruVanagon for the first time since the start of the conversion. Follow along as we get the fuel system and belt figured out.

The Gatorback alternator belt works great - We ordered from Summit Racing PN:4050272. It is a 27.25" long belt, so any 5-rib serpentine belt will work as long as it is around this length.

Doesn't it look like a gator's back?

Install the belt and tighten the belt adjuster.

Then crank down the alternator pivot.

This is the stock Subaru filter bracket and filter.

Flip the bracket arm so the bolt holes are at the top.

Bend the filter arm at a right angle.

Install the filter near the charcoal canister valve. There is a small bracket on the firewall which supported an electrical relay for the Waterboxer but we can now use it to support the fuel filter. The bolt spacing is pretty close and can bolt right up.

Now we'll connect the fuel lines from the fuel pump to the fuel filter and the fuel filter to the fuel ines on the motor. Make sure to use genuine fuel injection hose.

When pulling the Subaru motor from the donor car, we kept the fuel injector hose clamps. Use these type of clamps instead of the screw clamps with the open corrugations as they can tear the fuel hose.

This view shows the fuel line coming from the fuel fitting on the firewall to the fuel filter to the metal fuel line on the motor.

The next connection will be the metal fuel return hose on the motor to the Vanagon's fuel return hose behind the throttle body.

Pull the Vanagon return hose out of the rubber grommet (upper right of picture), and disconnect the rubber line from the hard plastic hose.

Thread the return hose from the motor through the rubber grommet on the firewall and connect to the Vanagon hard plastic hose.

Step 8: Testing and installation of wiring harness

The final major step before the SubaruVanagon is ready for the streets. We will show how we placed the wiring harness, in test form, and start the motor to check for problems in the wiring BEFORE we tape it all up. Remember that before starting for the first time we need to replace the motor oil, fill the coolant system, and connect the battery. But before all that, lets get the wiring harness in so it can be tested.

The starfish shaped wiring harness in its pre-wrapped state. We'll plug this into the computer and sensors on the motor in this state to test the running of the motor before we do the final wrap of the harness in cable sheathing.

The Subaru water temperature sensor has slighty different characteristics than the Waterboxer. A 19ohm resister is placed in the wiring between the sensor and the Vanagon water temp. gauge. We chose to put the resister near the gray engine plug becuase its a little less vulnerable to bending and fatigue.

Snip the purple wire near the engine plug, slide a piece of heat shrink tubing over the snipped wire, and solder the resistor into place.

Cover the resistor with the heat shrink tubing and slide a small piece of wire into the tubing to act as a backbone to the connection.

The resistor and backbone in place.

Wrap the connection in electrical tape so the resistor is less likely to be damaged.

Once the wiring harness has been tested by starting the Vanagon for the first time and running for a few minutes, we can wrap it up using corrugated cable sheath.

Once no faults are found with the wiring harness it can be taped up and readied for final installation. Follow along as we create the space for the computer and route the wires to the appropriate locations in the engine bay.

The cubby behind the left tail light, and the space between the Westfalia rear cabinet and the metal deck. In the Westfalia the space below the cabinet is a great choice for the computer and OBDII connector. In a Vanagon, the cubby hole is an often used location.

We took a 2" hole saw bit and drilled out a section beneath the Westfalia cabinet.

Carefully guide the computer connector and wiring harness through the 2" opening. The metal may be sharp so be very careful in this process.

We then took a segment of old fuel hose and split it lengthwise with a utility knife.

Place the split fuel hose around the sharp sheet metal and create a grommet for the wiring harness.

Install the computer and screw into the Westfalia cabinet. The computer is safe from the elements and the OBDII connector is easily accessed from the trunk.

The Subaru wiring harness interfaces with the Vanagon wiring harness at the black junction box on the firewall. It is a tight fit so make sure to gently bend all of the wires into place.

It is a relief when you can finally shut the junction box - This is a hard thing to accomplish with new, "untrained", wires.

The Subaru engine Ignitor, diagnostic connectors, fuel pump relay, and Ignition relay are on the left side panel near the air intake duct.

Connect the engine connectors. On the 1995 2.2L motor these are located on the left of the motor when in the Vanagon.

The fuel pump wire travels near the firewall in black cable sheath and connects with the fuel pump connector near the fuel filter. At the left of the picture you see the cable sheath travel underneath the intake manifold towards the alternator and the coolant bottle. This sheath carries one wire for the alternator from "ignition on" and two wires for the coolant bottle. The orginal Vanagon sheath (brown) connects to the alternator threaded post and also carries the blue alternator light wire.

Here you can see the basic wiring paths. Green to fuel pump wire. Orange is original Vanagon alternator wiring. Blue is "ignition on" to alternator. Purple is the coolant bottle wiring.

Summary:

We covered a lot of information in Part 6A and Part 6B - Congratulations, you made it! At this point you are probably itching to get your SubaruVanagon out on the open road, but lets be scientific and do some testing. In the next article we will explain coolant purging, troubleshooting, and some final details that will clean up the installation of the Subaru EJ22 into your Vanagon.